More Than Movement

I chatted with a student this week who is relatively new – he’s taken a handful of classes or so – to yoga. When I asked him how practice is feeling so far, he expressed that he enjoyed the stretching aspect of it and the movement.

But what he was more impressed and, as he put it, “pleasantly surprised” by was the way his practice brought him a sense of calm and ease.

“I have pretty tight hamstrings, and I’m not very flexible,” he laughed. “But it’s been really neat to find that even in poses that are really hard for me, I can still feel calm. I can still focus on my breath.”

Even after a challenging series of poses, he felt relaxed in his body, calm in his mind, and connected to the present.

It always makes me smile when I hear students talk about the way yoga makes them feel, during and after class. Because yes, asana can be immensely helpful for the body. My own practice has brought more mobility, strength, body awareness, and postural shifts than I could ever quantify.

But part of what makes yoga so powerful is that it focuses on mindfulness. In asana practices, yoga brings each student into a position of challenge, and asks them to find space, softness, and even rest.

As a student, it’s always helpful to bask in the joy, discovery, and peace that yoga practice brings. And as a teacher, it’s important to remember that many of our students aren’t just coming to yoga for more flexibility or strength; if that’s all they wanted, they would strength train or move through a stretch routine at home.

A big part of what students are seeking is a sense of balance. Of releasing stress, recharging their bodies and minds, and in many cases connecting with a community to do so. 

It feels trite and oversimplified to say yoga is about so much more than the body. That’s a given; the long and varied traditions of yoga explicitly address that the body, mind, and breath are interlinked and all pieces of the same whole.

But it’s helpful to remember that at the end of the day, my job as a teacher is to help students explore their limits, engage with challenge, and ultimately practice finding space and ease even in the most acrobatic of poses. And that if my students feel good in their body and calm in their minds after class, then I’ve achieved my goal.